Number: 2005-001-1-200
Title: Towards defining materials
chemistry
Task Group
Chairman: Peter Day
Members: L.V.
Interrante, M. Prato,
Y. Shirota, and
A. R. West
Objective:
To assemble, collate and disseminate information about the scope
of the newly-emerging discipline of materials chemistry, leading
to an authoritative definition of the subject within the family
of chemical sciences.
Description:
The last 10-15 years have seen the emergence and rapid growth of
'materials chemistry' as a distinct discipline within the broad
family of chemical sciences. This was a combination of noun and
adjective that had not previously formed part of the chemists' vocabulary.
Now a significant fraction of all publications in chemistry claim
to form part of this new field. In particular two international
journals (Chemistry of Materials, published by the American
Chemical Society and the Journal of Materials Chemistry,
published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in Great Britain) are
achieving high impact factors and publish work emanating from every
continent of the world. Yet there remains no definition of the phrase
'materials chemistry' agreed by the global chemical community. IUPAC
being the most appropriate body to sponsor such a debate, the project
proposed here aims to address this deficit.
Part of the difficulty in defining the scope of materials chemistry
arises from the fact that it transcends the divisions separating
the traditional branches of chemistry (e.g. organic and inorganic)
or between continuous-lattice and molecular solids. To address these
difficulties it appears necessary